Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFTFree Report) by 27.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 29,870 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,364 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.5% of Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 12,435 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,558,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the second quarter. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 5,450 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,436,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 19.2% during the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 20,385 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,111,000 after acquiring an additional 3,286 shares during the period. Finally, Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,031,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on MSFT

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $415.67 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $429.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.72. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $384.81 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFTGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

(Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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